Raulin's Oath

Examining the mural he had recently commissioned, Lucius smiled softly. It was beautiful; the sun shone through the window, hitting the wall and lighting the maroon gladiolus up perfectly. The artist, the same one that had painted his chest for the festival, made it for him, and he had to admit, he quite enjoyed her work. A small, mousy servant entered, disturbing his thoughts. While this irritated him, she seemed nervous, and he decided not to subject her to his frightening glare.

“It’s Gustoff.” Her voice trembled, and Lucius assumed she’d drawn the short stick out of his servants, having to deliver whatever news she had.

“What of him? Is he dead?” He waited a moment before hissing, “Well, spit it out.”

“He’s escaped.”

His vision went red, the world no longer seeming whole. It was as if he’d blacked out and the rage had ridden him through the storm. When he awoke from it all, when the world looked as it had before, there was blood on his hands and paper rained down on his wooden floor. His desk had been flipped, and the servant was dead. From what Lucius could gather, he’d ripped her up with the letter opener at his feet. The scene was surreal; he was frozen, and all he could do was stare at his dripping red hands. That was one of his people, and it hadn’t been her fault… He collapsed to the floor, bile rising in the back of his throat.

After a few minutes spent in a destroyed office with the coppery smell of blood permeating the air, he finally rose to his feet, brushing out the imaginary wrinkles on his pants. Grabbing at a kerchief on the floor, untouched by his storm, he used it to dab daintily at his eyes, wipe his nose and upper lip, and finally to remove some of the blood caked on his hands. Red gloves, that was what it reminded him of. He laughed humorlessly, shaking his head. He realized he looked quite unkingly, but he cared little as he strode into the hall.

“You.” He jabbed a finger through the air at a male, smaller than average, and the boy cowered. “Get a team and clean up my office. Also, send bathers to my room.” That smell, that revolting smell, still forced its way up his nose. One look at the bloodshot and clearly furious king had the boy quaking and sprinting off to find assistance for the task.

***

“I had to protect my girl,” Nova mocked in a deep voice, smirking as Jerry rubbed at the back of his neck.

“Would you cut it out?” he groaned, fighting his own laughter. “She might hear you!”

“Well, you already said it to her face, so it’s not gonna hurt her to hear it again,” she sneered. Arkas turned around from ahead of them, raising a bushy eyebrow. “What are you kids bickering about?”

Arietta turned at Arkas’ sudden attention to her peers trailing them. A look of panic settled on Jerry’s face, turning to Nova with pleading in his eyes. The ghost of a smile came over her face, and her eyes left Jerry’s, traveling to Arkas’.

“Oh, nothing, he just thinks that I would have met this group had we not traveled, and that’s clearly wrong.”

Jerry’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Wha-” Nova jabbed at him with her elbow, and suddenly he understood. “Oh, yeah, I know we would’ve met. Maybe not you, Arkas, but we would’ve ended up meeting Nova. I’d already run into Ari before everything, and it’s not like we were that far away; you were in the same hospital, just a different room. It’s possible, don’t you think?”

Nova quirked an eyebrow, flattered that he’d thought about the topic before. “Murphy’s law, anything that can happen will, but it’s just really unlikely. Yeah, you, Ari, and Gus could’ve been buddy-buddy, but I probably would’ve lived my entire life without even knowing your names. I’m shy, you know--we shared the same chemo room for two weeks and you didn’t even notice me,” she replied, and Arkas lost his interest.

“Crazy kids, don’t they know about fate?” Arkas grumbled to Arietta, and she silently prompted him to explain. “Oh, come on, you surely know about fate, right? You know, the thing that controls all of the universe. The thing that popularized the phrase ‘everything happens for a reason.’ You all are destined to travel here and restore the balance; you were also destined to meet here. Whether you like it or not, there was no alternative path to go down.” He chuckled at Arietta’s wide eyes. “You can’t tell me you don’t know about fate. Goodness, Earth is so uncultured!”

Arietta argued, “We know about fate, it’s just… It’s not really something considered to be real. Some believe in it, but most don’t.”

“I am certain that fate is real. That’s part of why you are all here, as the Chosen Ones; fate bonded you to this great responsibility.” Arkas shook his head.

“I have been thinking about that too. Everyone thinks that we are the Chosen warriors that will lead the charge against these dragons. Who’s to say that’s true?” Ari asked.

“Our hope sits on a balance. We place faith in the prophet, and you have been working to fulfill the prophecy. As long as the people trust the prophecy, we are given resources to fulfill said prophecy, and should you start asking silly questions like that and break the trust of the people depending on us, you will topple our fine balance,” Arkas said.

Arietta added, “Like a house of cards.”

Arkas nodded. “Indeed, like a house of cards.”

“The people of Palidonaya have to believe that they can win.” Arietta had never bought into blind faith, but Arkas had a point.

Arkas said, “I agree.”

“What if it comes down to us fighting a dragon? What if we get sacrificed because of all this prophecy stuff? Of course we should help these people of our own volition, but when prophecies are involved, all typical rules are allowed to be broken, and we don’t get that choice.” Nova spoke up, inspecting one of her claws.

Arietta paused. “I don’t know. All I know is that it feels right to help them, and once I’m in, I’m all in.”

Arkas stopped the group at what he determined was mid-day for a rest and a quick meal. He moved away from the others to eat in silence. He pulled a map out of his pack and began analyzing it, mumbling to himself as he traced possible paths. He looked up from the map as he listened to a noise he hadn’t heard in several days: the children were giggling. As he watched them interacting with each other, a smile spread across his face. Hearing that beautiful noise, he decided they could take a few extra moments so that they could just be three friends enjoying each other’s company. He could worry about how they would cross a land full of the enemy’s forces.

Struggle was in Arkas’ gaze and Arietta made her way to where he was sitting with the map spread out in front of him. “Hi, Arkas, it looks like you could use some company. What are you looking at?”

“This is a map of the known lands of Palidonaya. I’m trying to plot a course to Aridol, the capital city. We must share the information that Horace has shared with us. The problem is that we either cross Draconis or take our chances in Mirnalduhr.”

“Well, I know that we need to avoid Draconis, but what’s wrong with Mirnalduhr?” Arietta held Arkas’s gaze.

“Mirnalduhr is the Dwarven Country and is not a land that you would want to travel through. The place is nothing but mountains that reach past the clouds. Unlike Draconis, it is bitterly cold, making it almost impassable. The route that we would have to take leads under the mountains through Derge. The dwarves have remained in isolation, untrusting of the other races. In other words, I don’t think that they will welcome us with open arms.”

“Okay, so Lucius has sent his Hunters to ‘hunt’ us down. It really seems that he doesn’t like us. The dwarves don’t like anyone, but they haven’t tried to kill us yet, and according to Horace, they know how to make a weapon that would help us win against the dragons. Would it be possible to convince them to join us against the dragons?”

“The Dwarven Kingdom has never joined the rest of the Palidonayians in any of the wars against the dragons. I don’t believe that they would harm us, but the trip itself may prove dangerous enough for us to avoid.” Arkas was getting frustrated at his lack of options, and it was beginning to show.

“What is on the other side of the sea that seems to be just beyond the dunes? Could we go that way?” Ari thought she knew the answer, but wanted Arkas to start looking at other options.

“There are other lands across the water, but we have no way to cross it.” Arkas closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. There had to be another way.

“Can’t you just make us disappear here and appear over there like you did in Belamoris?”

“I could not teleport all four of us that far. The Great Beyond presents a problem with this line of thinking, as we could end up in the middle of the sea. If it were just me, I could perform a series of disapparations once I reached Draconis, making the long journey much shorter. I would need considerable rest in between, but I don’t even know why I am wasting my time thinking about this, as there are four of us.”

Arietta sat in silence for a moment, as she was getting an idea that could work. “Is it possible for you to send us back to Earth, and then bring us back when you arrive in Lenovia?”

Arkas looked up at Arietta in shocked silence. “I could definitely call on you from Lenovia. The gate is closed, but I was able to find a way to open it for a short time. I would have to peer into the dimensional realm, and if the conditions are right, this could work!”

Arkas quickly folded his map and started setting up his hut. He gave strict instructions for the others to give him complete privacy until he contacted them. Arkas then disappeared into his hut and began by creating a perfect circle of salt on the floor. He sat down in the center of it and began chanting the appropriate spell.

***

Xersa and Gustoff arrived in Aridol three days after leaving the dungeons of Draconis. He was tired, hungry and extremely weak, but he was alive. Raulin greeted him at the entrance to Dragon’s Bane and immediately took him to a room to rest. He arranged for a hot bath, food, and clean clothes to be prepared for Gustoff. The Council asked for him to give a debriefing, but Raulin insisted that Gustoff rested before they pushed him to talk. Gustoff was in far worse condition than he had thought.

It took two baths to clean him fully; the first had been stained a muddy brown from the dirt and sweat that coated his body like a primer. The second, a bubble bath, helped to loosen the muscles that had been pushed much farther than they had ever been pushed, both in the dungeon and during the flight. The stew that was brought to his room along with a loaf of bread was the first substantial meal that he had eaten in days. Gustoff almost broke down to tears when he laid down in a real bed to rest. It would be several hours before he would be talking to anybody. Raulin also had a draught of sleeping potion delivered so that Gustoff could have a restful sleep void of any nightmares. As Gustoff drank the potion that tasted like warm apple cider, his eyes became extremely heavy. He placed the cup on the nightstand and was fast asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

***

Arkas called for the group to meet him in his hut before nightfall. “I need you to gather inside this circle.” Arkas stepped out of the circle as the three Chosen entered it. He then began to chant and leap into the air as he danced around, throwing some sort of powder over the children. Jerry giggled at how ridiculous Arkas looked as he pranced around. Arkas then commanded that all three of the children close their eyes and think about home. They did so as an intense light began to illuminate the circle. There was a blinding flash, and then, Arkas was alone to make the journey to Lenovia.